


epiphany: the notes

by seokjynerso



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Biblical References, Crossover, Diary/Journal, Dubious Science, Future Fic, Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, POV Multiple, STREAM EPIPHANY, Self-Acceptance, Technobabble, Temporal Paradox, Time Travel, based on hyyh the notes and love yourself, implied laser gun violence, jin gets tons of lines, kierkegaard allusions, red leader!tord is nice for once, you don't need to know both fandoms to understand this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-07-06 10:09:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 5,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15883920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seokjynerso/pseuds/seokjynerso
Summary: ❝ i want to love in this world一the shining me, the precious soul of mine. Only now do i realise, so i love me. ❞in which seokjin and the red leader teamed up to discover time travel, the smeraldo flower shop changed reality and future edd was lectured about loving himself.based on bts's love yourself concepts and wtfuture. written in the style of the hyyh notes.





	1. seokjin, 3 august year 22

**SEOKJIN**  
  
  
**3 August YEAR 22**

The red notebook Namjoon had found beyond the cabinet door was precisely how I imagined an abandoned journal would look like. Striking in its loneliness, a little worn around the edges, leather-bound. A cloud of dust broke free as he opened it up to turn to the very first page. It smelled like times went by. I held my breath, not because of how all the dust from my previous fall and the book scraped my lungs, but because the page bore the name of someone I could never expect.

Written on the first page of the old notebook was my father's name, unmistakable in its three familiar syllables. Before Namjoon could read any further into the pages, I snatched the book from his hands. He returned a gaze of shock and disappointment but I didn't care. I set the book on a nearby table. One by one, my fingers flipped the pages with the care of a breeze blowing over trees in early autumn, afraid that the browned leaves would fall apart.

I recognised my father's own handwriting all over the pages. The journal told all the things he and his friends had done during their high school days, but the record was far from perfect. There were gaps between days, sometimes even months. There were times where the writings were unreadable at all, smudged by something, like bloodstains. But even if his story was missing several pieces, I understood that my father had endured the same things like I had. He'd blundered like I did, he'd made some mistakes and he'd tried to make up for them again and again and again.

The journal also bore witness to my father's failures. When he was tired of fixing things, he gave up. He buried everything beneath his memories and turned away. He'd abandoned all his friends. The last entry was nothing but the eerie black of ink stains, permeating through pages of virgin paper like the sum of his failures weighing on him. Somehow, when I stared at the ink stains for too long, I could make out faint letters. Coldness shot from the tip of my fingers to the top of my arm.

The notebook carried more memories than what was written. Over the writings, between the lines and in the empty spaces were the things my father had chosen to forget, things that he didn't dare to remember. In the indentations left by erased letters dwelled his struggles and fears and the last flickers of his hopes. The notebook is a map of a painful journey through the passage of time twisting and meandering across the pages.

The map of his soul.

I closed the notebook and looked at my friends, one by one. They were sleeping, like they've always been, but at this point of time, the sleep was not forever. In their slumber, they were softly breathing. Living. I've made the right decision by returning here, where and when everything had begun for the seven of us. Before the mistakes I haven't confessed became an open scar in our lives.

The stem of a pressed flower stuck out from the closed book. I slipped it out, gazing at its wilted blue petals in silent contemplation. Nothing is a coincidence, not even the discovery of this notebook. Now, I no longer feel alone. I'm walking down a path beyond the constraints of space and time, the same path my father had taken. But I swear that I will find the meaning behind the pain I felt from what I've done throughout all this time.

I will discover the map of my soul, too.


	2. tord, 16 march year 22

**TORD**  
  
  
**16 March YEAR 22**

Just a few moments before, I tasted victory in the open sky. Now, I could only taste the bitter slick of blood bubbling through my lips.

The blood was my own.

My prided creation, my single-pilot giant robot crashed on the field like a blinding red lightning. I lay there amidst the burning wreckage and swaying grass一broken, flightless, a rebel angel hurled down to the depths of hell by the arrow of a vengeful archangel. A searing pain spread down one side of my body, starting from my smarting right eye to the torn flesh of my waist. I grunted, trying to push away the heavy metal parts pinning me down, but my right arm refused to submit to me.

(Curse Tom and his harpoon gun!) 

After I managed to free myself from the ruins, the cliff beyond the field was finally in full view. The first insects of spring were flying over me, but I couldn't hear them over the sharp ringing in my ears. I clutched my limp arm in my hand and glanced at the relics of a grand plan for world domination一my two loyal soldiers rushing to tend to their Red Leader, and the prototype mechanical arm that became the muse for my subsequent robotic projects.

I crouched down to pick up the mechanical arm and dripping blood clung to the lush grass like fresh morning dew. The sun was setting on a past chapter of my life. The dark clouds and the strands of smoke were becoming one in the sky, rising from the fragments of a home I'd come to loathe, but somehow, still hold dear. When the smoke parted, my weakened eyes could make out three silhouettes, small and insignificant compared to the greater buildings around them.

They are fools, all of them. Simple minds like Edd, Matt and Tom are bound to be shortsighted. Why would I need friends like them for? Their classic stupidity kept them trapped within the walls of their carefree youth. They only know silly, fun adventures and nothing else. But they are old enough to break free from the comforts of their false paradise and confront the evil, but painfully real, side of the world. They should've been wise enough to turn innocence into epiphany.

Will they still dare to stop me, were they know what am I fighting against?

Peace and prosperity was never the default norm of the world. All nations on earth are only maintained by the thin veneer of civilisation. The natural state of the world is chaos. Discrimination, segregation, corruption, aggression and catastrophe. Wars are breaking all over the world, deaths have been caused by class injustice and some groups are persecuted just for being different from the mainstream. Humans, as the flawed creatures they are, might be passionate and altruistic, but they are also prone to prejudice and illogical thinking. The world needs to be regulated by a single, standardised order, so everyone can be treated equally and flourish as one.

I was fated to bring that order.

Alt lyt øydast som er etla til det. All that's meant to be destroyed must be destroyed. The world is a complex ecosystem, so changing it would be a complicated process. For the change to happen, the world needs to be reconstructed from the base up, done by the collective effort of a diverse army. It is only by destroying the old one can give birth to the new.

Yes, this also includes the so-called friends who would get in the way of the rebirth.

I will ascend above all mankind. I will exalt my power above all laws and institutions. I will impose my rules on the whole planet for its own good. My unconquerable will is the will of the wind. The flutter of a butterfly's wings tearing through fragile foundations made by nations for centuries.

If there's more to the world than this miserable planet, I'll reign over them all too.


	3. seokjin, 12 june year 23

**SEOKJIN**  
  
  
**12 June YEAR 23**

Finding him wasn't that hard a task. There are records of people related to his organisation buying electronic parts from my father's company. My father had established a branch in Oslo, Norway several decades ago, and because of that, he'd lived there for a considerable amount of time, just enough for him to forge some connections before moving to America. After several negotiations, he'd agreed to let me have a short discussion with him in one of his organisation's headquarters一only if I consent to be flanked by two of his Kalashnikov-armed guards throughout the whole process.

Tord Åkerlund was a man of medium height decked in a full military regalia that didn't belong to any country. His dark blond hair was neatly slicked back, but a stubborn lock or two jutted out like devil horns. He had a thin, bony face that became even more hollowed as he took in the Cuban cigar until its last orange flickers disappeared. His rough, scarred skin was propped up almost painfully by a pair of sharp cheekbones. There was no mistaking the mechanical skills he was famous for, his prosthetic right eye and arm were self-made, gleaming red in the dim light of the laboratory.

Tord exhaled a white sigh and inhaled a sickeningly sweet scent as I laid down a bouquet of Smeraldo flowers on his desk.

"Do you remember dying in some way before?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" Tord flicked the end of his cigar with metal fingers. I watched the ashes drift away.

"Do you ever have a vivid memory of dying at some point in your life? You might even have the keepsake of that event with you."

A new joint was lighted. "I certainly remember falling from a trap door while looking for ancient treasure... being stabbed by a hockey mask-wearing freak with a wooden stake... having my skeleton shot by a shotgun..."

"But have you ever thought how is it that you're still alive?"

Tord didn't speak for a long time. His silence was masked by a grey haze. He was thinking.

"Unregulated time travel is what caused the inconsistency of events we've experienced. A change made to the past will ultimately affect the outcome of the future, even though we aren't directly involved in it. I've read multiple accounts about the mystery of the Smeraldo flower, sold by Smeraldo Flower Shops popping up randomly all over the world before disappearing without a trace," I pushed the bouquet closer to him. "I believe that these flowers might be the answer to this phenomenon."

Tord's face remained stern as he studied the glowing blue flower he'd chosen from the bouquet. His bionic eye whirred, its lens extending forward like a microscope. I was awed at how his prosthetic arm was still capable of delicate motion from the way he held the flower as he steadied it for a more thorough observation. He moved the flower towards him, studied it, blinked his organic eye, crumpled his wide forehead and continued his study until a sudden realisation crossed him and a smile lifted the scars on his face.

"The Smeraldo flowers aren't flowers at all. They're actually energy-based alien life forms," Tord spoke of his discovery in a pleasant East Norwegian accent. "They have evolved to survive by crossing from one universe or point of time to another. In the wild, they would disappear into wormholes if the environment isn't fit for them."

This confirmed everything my father had written in his notebook, as well as my own personal experience with the flowers. But the flower sellers never told anything about the Smeraldo flowers not being flowers at all, perhaps that's why the motto of their shop is 'non potevo dire la verità': I couldn't tell the truth.

"Their body is made from pure energy, but they're still able to maintain a shape and form in order to blend in with the pre-existing native lifeforms since their energy is contained by exotic matter, particles with negative mass that are holding them together. The particles contain the energy like how a balloon contains air."

I nodded. "You're right about the wormholes, Mr Åkerlund."

"Just call me Tord." he said, smiling wider, his cheeks collapsing into happy wrinkles as he did so. Deep dimples were etched into damaged skin. Despite his intimidating first impression, he had a mischievous, boyish smile.

"Noted." I pulled out another Smeraldo flower from the bouquet. "Do you want a demonstration... Tord?"

"Eh, go on."

The logo of the Smeraldo Flower Shop, a flower unraveling into a single string, is the perfect approximation of what a Smeraldo flower looks like during the initiation phase of time travel. With the exotic matter keeping it together breaking away, all of its energy was concentrated into a compact, string-like formation powerful enough to tear a hole in the fabric of space and time.

The flower was completely gone. In its place, a large blue sphere floated inches away from the two of us. Inside it was the view of the laboratory we were in, but it had been distorted as if photographed through a fish-eyed lens.

"The calculations were correct," Tord, bathed in bright blue light, whispered in the tone of reverence. "It's a sphere."

I wish I could share his sense of wonder, but after my repeated attempts to mend my past and save my friends, the initial euphoria from the sight had worn off.

"A wormhole resembles a sphere more than a hole. That's one of the most surprising things I've learned during my travels through time." I produced an apple from my pocket, taking a whiff of its crisp freshness before turning to Tord with a wink. "Now, allow me to make you the next Isaac Newton."

"How do you determine where and when is on the other side?" he asked.

"The flower understands me," I said. "It'll lead me to the exact point of time and place I wanted."

I took a step backwards and threw my apple into the wormhole. The placid blue surface rippled for a moment before engulfing the apple whole.

"Hah! I'm proven right, again! A Smeraldo flower's energy is only an appendage to them. Their core self is the nectar-like structure at the centre of the flower, a mind intelligent enough to understand basic human brain waves一"

Tord's narration of his findings was rudely interrupted by an apple bouncing off the back of his head.

"When you look into the wormhole, you're looking at this laboratory, thirty seconds in the past," I stifled a laugh seeing an imposing figure like him comically rubbing his head. "Do you believe me now?"

"You're lucky that you're my special guest, or else I would've shot you to pieces!" he yelled. His red and grey eyes pierced into my soul as he glared at me, but whatever anger was boiling inside him, it was soon washed away by the awe of being one of the only humans to experience time travel.

"Sorry for the unneeded violence, I just wanted your first experience with time travel to be a little... symbolic."

I offered a hand to Tord.

"I need someone who can harness the energy of the Smeraldo flowers. Will you help me create a time machine?" I asked.

Tord took my hand with a firm, cold shake.


	4. seokjin, 30 august year 22

**SEOKJIN**  
  
  
**30 August YEAR 22**

Who can remember the moment when love began? Who can foresee when love will end? What does it mean when people say that humans are unable to tell beginnings and endings from the flow of time?

Is there a reason why I was given the ability to recognise these boundaries and turn them all back?


	5. seokjin, 10 august year 30

**SEOKJIN**  
  
  
**10 August YEAR 30**

Tord's Red Army had completed its transformation into a time travel-regulating paramilitary force, the Armed Temporal Regulatory Organisation, or ARMY for short. Their standard Kalashnikovs had been replaced by energy-based laser guns designed to match the possible weapon technology of the future. For years, they had been trained to familiarise themselves with their new weaponry, time-related combat scenarios and the mechanics of wormhole travel. Tord still retained his position as their Red Leader, now the head of this new organisation.

No laws were ever made about timeline alterations, so the ARMY, despite not being an official military, would take it upon themselves to keep time travel as safe and undamaging as possible, keeping the timeline free of paradoxes and inconsistencies. I knew very well how an outside interference in time and space can tear even multiple universes apart.

Imagine standing near the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea, Tord said to me, if you peer into the cold depths of the waters below, two different feelings will fight within you一the fear of falling and the sudden impulse of throwing yourself off the edge. Freedom, with its infiniteness, gives us the power to commit both the best and the most devastating actions. This is why we, humans, need order. Something to cut this freedom into more palatable pieces.

Meeting me, he said, was the best thing to ever happen to him. Having the power to maintain the order of time and space is beyond anything this planet could give.

Still, to Tord, I am a man of many names. When I made a light-hearted remark about how handsome I am, he would call me Matt. When I cracked a punny joke, he would call me Edd. Then, I would ask him why did he call me those names, but he would be in complete denial as if all these never happened.

Perhaps the answer lay in the form of grey melancholy accompanying his deep sighs. Embers burned slow between blackened lips.

I wonder what was going on inside his mind.


	6. seokjin, 4 september year 32

**SEOKJIN**  
  
  
**4 September YEAR 32**

Today marked the public release of our portable time machine. It had been approved to be commercialised under the condition that the selling of the machine will be prohibited to underaged children and substance-abusing individuals and the usage will be restricted to tourism purposes only.

The machine is a fist-sized generator housed in leather wrist-straps. The heart of the machine is a special magnetised container where the Smeraldo flowers' pure energy is stored. With a push of the 'warp' button, the stored energy will be unleashed to tear open a wormhole. However, naturally-occuring wormholes are usually too small to fit in an adult human, so the exotic matter particles are used to hold a wormhole tunnel open with its negative pressure.

Tord had given me the responsibility to name our invention, so I named it the TimeWalker. It is my hope for more people in the world to be given the chance to walk down the same path through time as me and my father, but without repeating our grave mistakes.

As a child, I'd always hated my father's fixation with control and how overprotective he was to shield me from all the hurt he'd been through. "School is a dangerous place, of course you need control. Seokjin doesn't think that way, " he used to say. I rebelled behind his back with my six close friends: Namjoon, Taehyung, Hoseok, Yoongi, Jimin and Jungkook. My father hated them, he said that they were only up to no good, yet they were the only ones who truly understood me.

But as I grew and matured, I learned that the best way to live is through a balance of freedom and control. My father's attempts to keep me in control backfired, and it was the dizziness of newfound freedom that destroyed my friends.

TimeWalker was created after realising that standardising safe time travel is the best way to prevent disastrous ones. If there are individuals still time travelling illicitly, there are ARMYs to take care of them. Many critics of TimeWalker had expressed concern that legalisation would cause a huge rise in time travelling, but under our global-run monopoly as well as strict laws and regulations, it is arguably harder to access time travel devices now compared to the Smeraldo Flower Shop era.

The only change is a positive one. People don't have to turn to questionable sources to travel through time unchecked, and they're also no longer exposed to the risk of careless changes in the timeline.

It's okay to look back to our past and learn from it, but trying to change the past will ultimately solve nothing.


	7. edd, 20 october year 33

**EDD**  
  
  
**20 October YEAR 33**

"Broccoli."

_Access granted._

I trudged into the living room and the smart front door slid shut behind me. The old sofa groaned as I crashed my full weight into it and set my legs up the coffee table. It was a tiring day, going from one store to another, only to find that none of them sold any cola. What a waste of time. I was really looking forward to crack open a cold one while watching Insane Zombie Pirates from Space: Episode III.

I propped myself against the rough lumps of the sofa foam, secretly hating how it kept scratching the back of my head. On the coffee table, today's daily paper lay by my feet, still wrapped in a rubber band. I scanned the headlines on the front page for, at least, something interesting to read that isn't a comic strip or a crossword puzzle.

_EXOTIC MATTER TO BE RENAMED KIM-ÅKERLUND MATTER_

Boring.

_KIM SEOKJIN OF TIMEWALKER FAME AWARDED HONORARY DOCTORATE_

Nope.

_COLA TO BE OUTLAWED WORLDWIDE_

Wait, what?

I quickly pushed the rubber band off the paper. Before it could even fully unfurl itself, I gave it a good shake, straightening it enough for me to tear through the pages for this one article:

_Under the decree of the Armed Temporal Regulatory Organisation (ARMY), foods and drinks suspected to contain intoxicants will face a worldwide ban. Among the first to be declared illegal are weed brownies and wine cakes. Regular alcoholic drinks and some types of consumable drugs, however, are exempted from this rule._

_An ARMY spokesperson told us that foods and drinks containing alcohols or drugs that can pass as regular ones have a potential to be misused by time travellers._

_Controversy arises when the ARMY started its investigation on the Coca-Cola Company due to allegations of their product containing traces of cocaine. A Coca-Cola executive has even confirmed that coca leaves are still being used as a flavouring agent, with 100 metric tons of coca leaves imported each year for production._

_The status of the drink will only be confirmed after the complete list of ingredients has been submitted to the ARMY for approval. At time of writing, the ARMY are yet to receive any responses from the company._

_As long as Coca-Cola refuses to disclose its list of ingredients, all types of cola will be outlawed._

I tossed the newspaper to the peeling wall.


	8. edd, 13 february year 16

**EDD**  
  
  
**13 February YEAR 16**

I thought that it would be easy. I could just steal an ARMY-exclusive Lite edition of the TimeWalker, go back to the past, aim my gun on my past self 's head, pull the trigger and watch as my body dissipate from existence. Past Edd was even too dumb to save himself from me.

But no, the ARMY had to send Matt and Tom to stop me. Their Red Leader had given them a heavy duty, military-grade timetravel device. They'd found a worthwhile replacement for their stolen one.

Life is no longer the place for me. Why won't you let me die? You don't have to blame yourselves for it. If I were to kill myself without any prior notice, you'll blame yourselves for leaving me suffering on my own.

Let me kill my past self and you will only have a strange monster from a distant land and time to channel your rage and despair. This way, I can leave without hurting no one.

Just myself.

("We're here to stop you before you destroy the future for your selfish needs," you said. But I'm also doing this for your own good. For your own happiness.

Who's the selfish one now?)


	9. seokjin, 13 february year 34

**SEOKJIN**  
  
  
**13 February YEAR 34**

A tall man in black overcoat staggered out from a blue wormhole. His round, stubbled face was smudged with dirt from a previous scuffle. His dark brown hair was styled in a mullet.

"Where am I?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

"You must be Edd. Welcome to the Singularity," I said, bowing slightly out of habit. "Reinforcement ARMYs have been dispatched to 2145 hours, February 13, 2010一the last point of time before any changes were made. You are sent here for your own protection."

I named the ARMY headquarters The Singularity, but it isn't really a singularity. Tord joked that the gravity of a real singularity would crush us all like tin cans (and what a sight would that be). The Singularity is a secret place existing billions of years before ours, giving us an enough gap in time to react to any alterations made in the known past.

"Let me go," Edd shook his head violently. "I don't want to be saved."

"So, what do you want instead?"

"I want to... disappear. I don't want to live in this bleak, soda-free life anymore." he said through gritted teeth. "If only my past self know how far has future fallen and how it was all my一"

Edd's voice suddenly dropped. He shifted in his seat, opened his mouth a little in an attempt to conjure a word, then slumped against the sterile-white wall.

The ban on cola was the breaking point, not the reason. I knew that the truth ran deeper than that. "It's alright if you don't want to tell me everything," I told him. "But I also can't give you what you want right now. I only have a story and a listening ear for you. I've been there. I've been in a situation just like yours."

The last sentence of my request had piqued Edd's interest.

"What do you mean?"

The core of this conversation was an exchange. If I showed him the truth behind my actions, perhaps he would show me his. I wanted to understand him.

"Around ten years ago, I tried to erase my past self from the timeline. I figured that my friends would have a better future if I sacrifice myself, taking Taehyung's place before he jumped."

But sometimes, telling the truth involves reopening old scars.

"After all, everything was my fault. I didn't have the courage to tell my father that I wasn't a good student. Instead, I shifted the blame on my friends. I told the principal about our hideout in the AVR room. Yoongi was expelled. Jungkook was left adrift without his best friend. Namjoon knew about what I did. Jimin and Hoseok fell apart. I fought with Taehyung the night we were supposed to go on a trip together."

And reliving the pain all over again isn't an easy price to pay.

"Since then, the seven of us never got back together again. I tore us apart. We were strong as a whole, but vulnerable alone. They couldn't face the post-school freedom on their own. In the end, I lost all of them forever."

By the end of my confession, my part of the deal had been fulfilled. How did our stories intersect, now that both of us ended up the same way? I looked into Edd's large, age-lined eyes, searching for answers. They were wandering.

"Do you have something you deeply regret?"

In the exchange of truths, story is the currency. After taking some time for recollection, Edd began playing his part, putting his guard down and offering his own memory. "I shouldn't let Tord go. If I'd convinced him to stay, he wouldn't turn against us after leaving us for too long. We wouldn't be separated from each other like this," his voice was low, but devoid of hesitation. "I've seen the timeline where I never existed. Tord, Tom and Matt managed to live fine without me. They were closer, happier. It was better in every way."

"But was it really better?"

"Not really. Tord was close to taking over half of Norway and Matt was homeless."

"That was exactly what happened. Even in the timeline without me, they were still suffering alone. Changing the past is futile because we'll never know whether the future will change for the better or for worse. There are some consequences we have to live with and mistakes we have to learn from."

"So, paradoxes don't only happen in the movies?" Edd asked.

"Exactly. The you of the past, the you of the present and the you of the future一they are all you. The choices you've made, the regrets you've felt, the pain you've endured, the wisdom you've gained, all these are part of you, too. And all of them are worthy of love."

Edd's gaze fell to his hands. Just a few hours ago, they held a weapon that'd been used against his past self. One of the hardest things I've done in my life is to love my past self as a part of myself. At first, I couldn't even forgive him.

"Some things are beyond our control. Some people can't be saved, no matter how many times we'd tried. The blame isn't completely on our shoulders. We're all imperfect, but we're us. Shining, precious, beautiful. We're the one we should love in this world."

There are places that can't be reached even after how many times seasons repeat. During those days when I went back through time multiple times to mend my mistakes and failing, I never thought that I would escape the neverending loop, or even pass the things I've learned during my travels to someone else, someone older than me by a few years, someone I saw my troubled younger self in.

"Don't be like me. Look at the world around you. Just you being here made all the difference." We both turned to see the world through the window. The sky outside the Singularity is a dark blanket of shining stars. The constellations of us.

"You need to live, Edd."

Our problems overlapped each other and they way we dealt with them were tragically similar, too, but the answer I found won't necessarily work for him. Nevertheless, I hope that one day, he'll allow himself to receive the same love he'd given to his friends.

"By the way, I'll send members of the ARMY to supervise the technique used by the Coca-Cola company to extract its flavour," I said. "If they pass all of our tests, the worldwide ban on cola will be lifted."

"Really?" Edd's deep voice came out an octave too high.

I placed a hand over my heart. "I promise."

"Thank you! I love myself!"

I smiled to no one in particular as I watched Edd running away from my room, embracing Tom and Matt in a group hug. Digging my hands into my coat pockets, I found an old polaroid photo, its glossy surface a little crumpled and collecting dust.

But the image and the memory associated with it remained as clear as ever. We took the photograph by the beach during our last summer holiday as high school students. I was standing by my car on the driver's side while my six friends were circling me, making peace signs with their hands. I could still hear the cries of seagulls and the laughter of happiness shared.

I miss them.

Maybe, one day, we'll return to the sea together.


End file.
